KOSOVO: Kosovo police seize nationalist relicts from Serbs as they mark Kosovo battle anniversary.

Record ID: 593359

  • Title: KOSOVO: Kosovo police seize nationalist relicts from Serbs as they mark Kosovo battle anniversary.
  • Date: 28th June 2012
  • Summary: GAZIMESTAN, NORTH OF CAPITAL PRISTINA, KOSOVO (JUNE 28, 2012) (REUTERS) BUSSES WITH SERBS PARKED NEAR GAZIMESTAN TOWER SERBS CARRYING FLAGS WALKING SERBS CARRYING FLAGS WITH PICTURES OF MLADIC AND SESELJ PEOPLE WEARING T-SHIRTS READING "GREAT SERBIA" KOSOVO POLICE SEIZES T-SHIRT VARIOUS OF MAN WEARING T-SHIRT WITH PICTURE OF MILOSEVIC ARGUING WITH POLICE NOT TO TAKE IT OF SERBS SINGING POLICE CONFISCATING T-SHIRTS SHIRT IN RUBBISH BIN POLICE CONFISCATING T-SHIRTS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE TRYING TO RUN AWAY/ POLICE STOPPING THEM SERB NATIONAL HAT ON THE GROUND POLICEMAN HELPS MAN HOLDING CROSS TO GET ON ROAD POLICEMEN/ SERBS PASSING BY CROWD HOLDING FLAGS VARIOUS OF POLICE CONFISCATING T-SHIRTS T-SHIRTS ON GROUND VARIOUS OF SERB PATRIARCH IRINEJ WALKING VARIOUS OF STONE TOWER OF GAZIMESTAN/ PEOPLE VARIOUS OF ONGOING RELIGIOUS PROCESSION BELGRADE, SERBIA (JUNE 28, 2012) (REUTERS) IVICA DACIC, SERBIAN DESIGNATED PRIME MINISTER WALKING TOWARDS MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) SERBIAN DESIGNATED PRIME MINISTER, IVICA DACIC, SAYING: "When incidents in Kosovo are concerned, they certainly do not contribute to all the wishes that situation there should be stable. International forces have obligations to keep peace and stability in Kosovo, and these incident are for condemnation. Saint Vitus day is a big holiday for the Serbian people, but on every Saint Vitus day incidents happen (in Kosovo), if Serbian people in Kosovo can not celebrate Saint Vitus day, a holy day in memory of the Serbian suffering (referring when Serbs lost Kosovo battle against Turks in 1389), it raises the question, if there is anyone who can secure a peaceful life for Serbs in Kosovo." PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) SERBIAN DESIGNATED PRIME MINISTER, IVICA DACIC, SAYING: "All future talks (with Kosovo) must be based on the preservation of security." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 13th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kosovo
  • Country: Kosovo
  • Topics: History,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAM2932HUL01I90QAIDMAU9NQH
  • Story Text: Kosovan police stripped nationalist relicts from Serbs, who came to Kosovo on Thursday (June 28) to mark the 623'st anniversary of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo at the historic site of Gazimestan.
    Earlier in the day, more than 50 people were injured in clashes when Kosovo authorities deported a group of visiting Serbs who accused police of using live fire on them, leaving one with life-threatening injuries.
    A group of some 70 people, mainly youngsters from Serbia, were travelling in two buses heading for Gazimestan, a religious and historic site close to the capital Pristina when police decided to send them back to Serbia as they were "very aggressive, drunk and were provoking both police and citizens".
    Kosovo's Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi said the youngsters threw stones and other heavy object at the police just after they were expelled from Kosovo territory.
    Serbian health authorities said one Serb sustained life-threatening injuries and five others were hospitalised with gunshot wounds. A total of twenty Serbs sought medical care in the towns of Kursumlija and Prokuplje, just outside Kosovo.
    Nine police officers were treated in hospital and a further 23 policemen suffered minor injuries, the interior minister said. Police declined to confirm whether they used live rounds.
    Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but ethnic tensions between the 90 percent Albanian majority and the small Serb minority that refuses to recognise Kosovo state have remained since a 1998-99 war.
    Gazimestan is where Serbs mark the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, when mediaeval Tsar Lazar's Orthodox Christian Serbs lost a battle to invading Muslim Ottoman Turks.
    Ivica Dacic, Serbia's prime minister-designate, said the incident was damaging for the peace and stability in Kosovo.
    "When incidents in Kosovo are concerned, they certainly do not contribute to all the wishes that situation there should be stable. International forces have obligations to keep peace and stability in Kosovo, and these incident are for condemnation. Saint Vitus day is a big holiday for the Serbian people, but on every Saint Vitus day incidents happen (in Kosovo), if Serbian people in Kosovo can not celebrate Saint Vitus day, a holy day in memory of the Serbian suffering (referring when Serbs lost Kosovo battle against Turks in 1389), it raises the question, if there is anyone who can secure a peaceful life for Serbs in Kosovo," Dacic told reporters in Belgrade, "All future talks (with Kosovo) must be based on the preservation of security," he added.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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